According to my newspaper the timeOf greatest flowering in European cultural lifeCoincided with the advent of the coffeeHouse in cities like Vienna. Poets lost love,Philosophers thought deeply, Shrinks shrank, and great newSymphonies soared above the pervading creative buzz.

Surely it was not always so. The buzzMore generally heard before that timeWas the gentle snore of citizens tanked up on newWine or local ale. Such widespread alcohol slowed lifeTo a crawl beyond mid-morning, for who does not loveTo lie down when half drunk anyway? Imagine, then, coffee,

On its introduction from the east. A single cup of coffeeCould rouse a person with its distinctive buzzTo new heights of creativity. Quite soon, the loveAffair with this dark stranger from the shores that timeForgot had spread from cup to saucer, transforming lifeFor the noveau-jazzed across the continent. The New

World, similarly, benefitted from the newCaffeinated order. The Thirteen Colonies made coffeeA staple to accompany the westward spread of white-faced lifeSwarming native land like a great cloud of queenless bees, their buzzStinging like a pickaxe blow in railroads and then in factories, where timeTriumphed over human scale, and simple love

Disintegrated into commerce. The loveOf money, wide-eyed, unblinking, brought a newAnd harsh reality to bear – a far cry from the timeWhen agriculture and its rhythms reigned. Now coffeeRepresented all that served to amplify avarice, that buzz-Cut every wayward tree, and scythed through individual life.

It seems there is a rule in lifeThat we must pay the price for all we love,And surely we have paid in full for the buzzFirst tasted many centuries ago. Those pioneers knewNot what they were playing with, and their coffeeDalliance has robbed us all of a simpler time.

But then again, with the buzz of life I get each time I grab a venti toffee nut caramel white mocha frappuccino double blended with no whip cream and extra caramel drizzle, my love for this beautiful drug is brewed anew – The world would be so much less poetic without coffee.

Share this:

Like this:

I don’t know where your black shoes are.We don’t have time to curl your hairAt this point, my dear, I really don’t careJust grab your stuff and get in the car.

Why do we do this to ourselves each May,This ritual humiliation we call the recital?Can this two-hour battle of flesh versus machine be as vitalTo our children’s development as their teachers say?

Leave your sister alone, you unrepentant brat!Can’t you see she’s having nervous fitsAbout the middle section of this piece? It’s got her scared to bits.And don’t say that dress makes her look fat.

Look, I love soccer, but I wouldn’t love it more if you made meTake a penalty in front of a thousand people, for crying out loud.Why can’t these poor frightened souls be allowedTo play for fun at home instead of out where everyone else can see?

Oh gosh, there’s your grandma in the second row.All her friends from church have come alongTo hear you play your two-finger version of a patriotic song.You’d better stop your tears, or all the makeup stains will show.

I’m all for music lessons, please don’t get me wrong. I’m quite awareThey teach us discipline, which is of course right and good.But somewhere I think we crossed the line, and what couldHave been encouraging to kids has instead become a collective nightmare.

There she is, under the lights. She looks so innocentSitting on the piano stool, preparing to do violenceTo America the Beautiful. In her defenseThe outfit’s pretty, even if her playing’s only twenty-five percent.

You show me a gifted pianist playing Chopin out his mind,I’ll see your smug little prodigy and raise youFive hackers lurching sweat-drenched and distraught throughFur Elise like a drunken typing pool. Full house beats one-of-a-kind.

Oh, well done, you were divine, a taste of heaven to the ear!These flowers are a token of my love and great esteem.You are so talented and brave. Let’s go get the largest ice creamWe can find, and forget this charade until we have to do it all again next year.